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Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story stated that the 2010 median sales price in North Lake Tahoe was $991,780. In fact, that was the average price; the median was $522,000.

For second homes in America's most affluent locations, the past year was ugly. No way else to describe it. Median home prices were down 50% in North Lake Tahoe, and 44% on Martha's Vineyard, to cite two examples.

One year's price change is an indicator, of course, rather than an accurate measurement of the value of a community's entire housing stock. Median prices on Martha's Vineyard, an island hard to reach and with little real-estate inventory, can swing widely when only a few homes at the top trade hands. A one-year dip doesn't wipe out the essential beauty and attraction of the island established over time.

But still. With prices in 70% of our top markets for second homes either flat or in decline last year, it's hard to find a positive spin to all this. We've been as surprised as anyone: We wrote last year that the market for high-end second homes was on the rise. But that was before the European debt crisis spun out of control.

"Europe hurt the buying psyche of the luxury-home market, because it was the wealthy who got hammered this time around," says Aubrey Ferrao, chief executive of the tony development Fiddler's Creek in Naples, Fla. "They didn't expect it. But they were invested in the hedge funds and credit swaps that got hit."

The luxury second-home market is now firming up again—to the point where we are confident to name the Wall Street—sensitive Hamptons as our favorite hammock. Last year prices held steady, despite shrinking bonuses. We see that as a pretty strong indicator that the bottom has been hit. Any increases in Wall Street bonuses, even modest ones, should result in Hamptons prices starting to rise again.

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While the era of picking up a choice second home at a deep discount is clearly not over, more scrutiny and discernment are required. The best bargains may have been snapped up. Often what is left are large, overdeveloped houses decorated with Italianate marble and cupid-spitting fountains.

Last year, for example. we published a photo of an $84 million, 10,000-square-foot home on South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach. The price has since been slashed to $74 million, but it still sits empty, despite a breathy pitch that the house showcases "exquisite craftsmanship" and is "calibrated for 21st-century living." The endless marble and interior columns seem to us better suited to a cold bank than a warm home. Even at that reduced price, the house is clearly still not viewed as a must-have bargain by well-heeled house hunters.

Brokers tell Penta that houses not moving tend to have poor layouts or generally need work or are often sandwiched by developments or neighbors in bankruptcy or foreclosure. No fixer-uppers, thank you. The theme these days is "location, quality/condition, location."

Some insiders are now betting 2014 will be the "Great Restoration" year for even the hardest-hit resorts. Aubrey Ferrao, the luxury developer in Florida, is, for example, building two towers, starting in 2014 and ready for occupancy two years later, each with 76 condos priced between $3 million and $6 million. His reasoning: By then, even in the most depressed markets like Florida, there will be clarity on tax rates and deficit reduction, and the long slump in high-end housing will have run its course.

So we're probably near the last call for the last bargains.

1. HAMPTONS, NEW YORK

New money calls these Long Island beach towns the Hamptons, while old money calls them the East End. We would call them a relative bargain if you are in the market for a $1 million to $2 million home, without water view, found north of Montauk Highway. Business is less brisk south of the highway, where houses facing the water usually range from $2 million to $10 million. The Hamptons' house prices mirrored the S&P 500's flat line last year, with starting bids generally 15% below asking prices. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent some $20 million for a 35-acre estate in Southampton last year, along a stretch of beach where everyone from rapper Sean Combs to conservative mogul David Koch continue to battle Manhattan-like traffic to see and be seen.

2. KAUAI, HAWAII

Kauai is quainter than Oahu, Maui or the Big Island (Hawaii), and is the least developed of the major islands and the most reminiscent of South Pacific. It is also the wettest, with brief daily showers producing walls of hibiscus and purple bougainvillea. Actor and avid golfer Craig T. Nelson pounds drives in Kukui'ula, which overlooks the sandy and relatively dry southern shore. Across the island, the north shore's soaring mountains peer down on taro fields surrounding funky Hanalei and its crescent bay. Kauai was the Hollywood backdrop for Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii and George Clooney's The Descendants; part-time resident and actor Pierce Brosnan mixes it up with locals at Hanalei's shaved-ice stands. Word is that Montage resorts plans to build a starred hotel in Princeville surrounded by multimillion dollar homes.

3. MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS

Seven miles out at sea, the rich and powerful pick up lobsters from Larsen's in Menemsha. It's also a place to potentially bump into President Obama, whose favorite summer rental, Blue Heron Farm, sold in September for $23.7 million. The celebrity scrum is frequently avoided by escaping to Philbin Beach, dotted with nude sunbathers, or the barrier South Beach, a fine-sand sliver between the sea and salt ponds. The town of Chilmark is considering special planning reviews for McMansions that could presage island-wide change. In Edgartown, site of older and larger homes and the focus of our sales data, the late Walter Cronkite's $11.3 million house was 2011's high-water deal, but the previous year's included $18 million-plus sales, which explains the median price drop. Nearby Nantucket is also well worth a look. Prices on this history-drenched little island fell about 2% last year.

4. KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

On Kiawah Island, there's a wait to play a round of golf at the Ocean Course, which is hosting the PGA Championship in August. And it's not easy to book a decompression slot at the Sanctuary Hotel's spa, either. Those in the know relax instead by grabbing a kayak and paddling out to watch calmly swimming dolphins; the lucky will witness "strand feeding," when frenzied dolphins push fish onto land to eat them. In 2011, sales on the island were down slightly, and so were median prices, but top-line numbers rarely tell the full story. Three oceanfront homes sold in 2011, and an undisclosed buyer paid $8.4 million for two lots.

5. VAIL, COLORADO

For those who want the high life rather than the quiet life: After skiing knee-deep powder on Vail's incomparable back bowls, a woman with a diamond ring the size of Pike's Peak hands her skis to the valet. Prada sunglasses shade her tired eyes from the sun. The skier, the wife of a Mexico City industrialist, enters the Arrabelle Club, an après-ski hangout where gold-medal Olympic skier and cover girl Lindsey Vonn keeps her locker. The Mexican jet-setter is handed a glass of Veuve Clicquot Brut. Favorite old-school hangout: Pepe's for Bavarian schnitzel. New-school: Sweet Basil for a round of vodka martinis. Fifty single- family homes changed hands in 2011, nearly half the volume of a year earlier, but median prices were down only slightly.

6. MAUI, HAWAII

While Michael Dell and Charles Schwab gravitate to the land-rich Big Island (Hawaii), Maui has Oprah and her 100-plus-acre estate in the isolated upcountry coastal town of Hana. There, she transformed a modest rancher into an oceanfront farmhouse. Critics sniff that the wraparound porch is more Deep South than tropical plantation. Country music star Willie Nelson hangs with locals at Charley's Western saloon and eatery on the north shore in Paia, where he is known to pick and strum. The outdoor bar at the Four Seasons Hotel in Wailea is for tuna poke (poe-kee), an indigenous "pupu" of raw fish. Five sales last year were over $10 million, with the finest going for $14.5 million.

7. ASPEN, COLORADO

The zinc bar at Brexi Brasserie, and Eric's Bar, are the places where Park Avenue and Bel Air escapees sit side-by-side with unshaven lift operators. The decades-old Caribou Club still doesn't have a sign on its door, but remains packed. Lifetime members plunk down $20,000 for the "privilege" of dining next to a Kennedy or locals like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Aspen is also home to ESPN's edgy Winter X-Games, a big draw. The market was exceptionally active last year, with the 20% drop in exclusive property prices offering clear discounts. But also know this: Twenty-two residences above $10 million, totaling $325 million, changed hands in the upper Aspen Valley.

8. CASTINE, MAINE

"A step out of clock time" is how 20th-century poet Philip Booth, a longtime summer resident, might have described this coastal village in Maine. Grand Georgian and Federalist homes line Main Street; sprawling Perkins Street "cottages" overlook Penobscot Bay and distant Camden Hills. Castine, site of America's worst naval defeat prior to Pearl Harbor, appeals to those seeking old-fashioned summers of sailing and lobster-roll picnics. Yachts moor at Eaton's Boatyard, while owners quaff rum punches at Dennett's Wharf and feast on bouillabaisse at Pentagoet Inn. The late novelist Mary McCarthy and her career-diplomat husband once mixed in town with Washington insiders, literati and showbiz sorts. Today a similar set includes Sex and the City writer and producer, Jenny Bicks. A little Cape Cod-style summer house with water view finally sold for $800,000 in 2011. That was after the property was first listed at $1.15 million three years ago and the owners rejected $875,000 in 2010–a decision they are undoubtedly ruing.

9. BRAYS ISLAND PLANTATION, SOUTH CAROLINA

Brays Island Plantation, a 200-house development master-planned for 325 one-acre lots in over 5,500 acres of wildlife attracts horseback riding, wing-shooting and fishing enthusiasts. Circle-shaped lots maximize privacy and tuck residents in among old oak trees draped with Spanish moss; 90% of the land is held in common trust, blocking overdevelopment. Savannah, Ga. (dine at The Olde Pink House), and Charleston, S.C. (dine at Husk), are close by. Amateur archaeologist Paul Burton, an on-site broker, takes you fossil hunting in the Low Country rivers that ring the island, where teeth of 10 million-year-old Megalodon sharks are found. Last year, $2.3 million was the top trade and the buyer paid the full price, but most sales are 85% of the ask, knocking the median down after prices had rocketed in 2010.

10. PARK CITY, UTAH

The best time to ski is in mid-January during the Sundance Film Festival, because nobody is on the hill. But don't try to get a dinner reservation at Robert Redford's Zoom, a downtown icon. After the starlets and poseurs drawn to the festival have decamped their "Occupy Park City," part-time residents and locals reclaim the Old West mining town for the rest of the year. Media types like Conan O'Brien have been seen in the glassy cube that is the St. Regis Resort, while West Coast techsters are frequently spotted in the lounge filled with overstuffed couches at the Montage. Talk of the town: A four-bedroom residence at the Montage sold for $8 million last year, a $2 million drop from the original asking price.

11. SEA ISLAND, GEORGIA

The veranda and lawn chairs at The Lodge at Sea Island fill at sunset, as a lone bagpiper retires the sun over the marsh's sea grass. Vacationing families sup on seafood and dry-aged steak at The Lodge's Colt & Alison eatery, while adults needing a break send the children to dinner and a movie at Sea Island "camps," supervised by baby sitters. After dinner, nicotine cravings are satisfied in the pecky cypress-walled smoking lounge at The Cloister. Last year, home-sales volume surged, bringing in a fillip to prices, but buyers still seem wary of overpaying. The owner of Casa Genotta, once owned by playwright Eugene O'Neill, cut his asking price to $8.5 million from $10.7 million.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story stated that the 2010 median sales price in North Lake Tahoe was $991,780. In fact, that was the average price; the median was $522,000.

12. NORTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIFORNIA

Squaw Valley was home to the 1960 Winter Olympics, the second one held in the U.S. Last September, KSL Capital Partners (of La Costa and Hotel del Coronado) took majority control of a company that merged the Squaw resort with neighboring Alpine Meadows and pledged to pump $50 million into the area. Combined with Vail Resort's 2010 acquisition of nearby Northstar-at-Lake Tahoe and recent purchase of Kirkwood Mountain, that adds up to more investment in ski operations, mostly on the north shore, than practically anywhere else in the country. A recent problem in the area has been a dearth of natural snow. Hedge-fund managers and tech executives dine on the seared foie gras of Chef Traci Des Jardins at Manzanita, located in Northstar's two-year-old Ritz-Carlton. In 2011, a syndicate led by Bank of America bought the formerly troubled Ritz-Carlton hotel property at auction, while the Martis Camp development sold $91 million worth of land and homes.

13. JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING

The slopes are vertical drops and daunting chutes. About half of the mountain in the craggy Teton range is designated for "experts only," so beginners head down these slopes at their own peril. The closest major airport is a distant 200 miles away in Salt Lake City. While the Hollywood crowd often opts for the glitz of Aspen, low-key CEOs with access to corporate jets tend to quietly slip into Jackson Hole. The most sophisticated hangout is the rustic, but elegant, Four Seasons Resort. The Wild West meets the Food Channel at the Snake River Grill, where antelope shanks and buffalo short ribs are washed down with vintage Napa Cabernet. Sandwiched by soaring mountains and roaring rivers, Jackson Hole remains a prime base camp for some of the finest trout fishing in the country, from Wyoming's Snake and North Platte rivers to the Bighorn and Madison rivers in nearby Montana. In 2011, 15 homes sold for more than $5 million, while several estates went for prices topping $13 million.

14. HIGHLANDS, NORTH CAROLINA

The mountain spa town known for its crisp air is on the cusp of becoming a destination. In 2001, billionaire A.O. Williams bought what is now known as the Old Edwards Inn and reopened it fully renovated three years later. The redo was so successful that Condé Nast Traveler gave Williams' spa its top honors in 2010. Real estate here seems soft, but elevation and views, such as Ravenel Ridge and Bowery Road, hold their own. Properties like Wolf Ridge, not for sale, get a steady stream of unsolicited bids. Shop McCulley's for Scottish cashmere sweaters and Bascom Art Center for Moulthrop wooden bowls. Highland Hiker, owned by Mayor David Wilkes, caters to naturalists and fly fishermen heading into the surrounding mountains. Another draw is the Highlands Country Club golf course, built in 1928 and responsible for honing the skills of the most successful amateur golfer ever, Bobby Jones.

15. PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

Residents joke that you never realize how young you are, or how poor, until you visit Palm Beach. Proof abounds in the Chanel and Graff Diamonds shops on Worth Avenue or while lunching at Testa, where out on the sidewalk a skin-tucked elderly woman models for a local shop. The Colony Hotel cabaret books acts like Chita Rivera, but aging rocker-residents such as Rod Stewart and Jimmy Buffett are often seen bopping around town. The restaurants Buccan and Cha Cha's are for the slightly younger set. The tight space of Palm Beach, a heavily developed barrier island, tends to support real estate prices. But folk near retirement eventually trade down. In 2011, Jimmy Buffett bought a $4.95 million house, paying slightly less than the $5.2 million asking price, after selling his $18.2 million oceanfront estate. Home hunters will find valuable market data at www.lrevanspa.com in reports prepared by local real-estate attorney Les Evans.

16. SUN VALLEY, IDAHO

In June, Sun Valley and Ketchum are overrun with media moguls, bankers, Internet whizzes and traditional publishers during Allen & Co.'s annual media conference. But normally Sun Valley is just another star-studded, out-of-the-way ski town. This area, America's first destination ski resort, was made famous by Ernest Hemingway, who spent his final years here. "Papa" used to throw back a few at Whiskey Jacques', a Ketchum saloon that retains its country charm and following. The Casino Club is still a favorite haunt even though the slots have long been banished. Sun Valley has a ski-circuit rep as a hard-partying town after an equally busy day on Bald Mountain (known as Baldy). The new kid on the block is the Cellar Club, where actor Bruce Willis has been spotted toward closing time.

17. PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

After years of decline, Palm Springs is enjoying a genuine revival that would have cheered its late mayor, singer and congressman, Sonny Bono. Gay and lesbian real-estate speculators from San Francisco to Los Angeles have given Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley a total makeover. The new crowd can be seen sipping alcohol-infused snow cones by the vintage pool at Ace Hotel and Swim Club, as the wait staff zips around on skateboards. Sinatra's Rat Pack is long gone, but those who are still nostalgic for crooners will find some of the old magic around the piano bar at Melvyn's. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates frequently escapes Seattle's wet and leaden skies by heading to his sun-washed home in the gated golf community of the Vintage Club in nearby Indian Wells. The relatively modest home of the late President Gerald Ford is currently for sale; his recently departed wife, Betty, was, of course, famous in her own right for the drug and alcohol treatment center she founded in Rancho Mirage. For those with a taste for collecting presidential artifacts, the 6,300-square-foot Ford estate on the Thunderbird Country Club golf course in Rancho Mirage lists for $1.7 million.

18. LAKE GENEVA, WISCONSIN

Lake Geneva has long been called the Newport of the West because 19th-century Chicago industrialists, such as the Wrigleys, Swifts and Montgomery Wards, built their 20-room "summer cottages" on the grassy shores of the crystal-blue lake that inspires the town's name. The lakeside imperial lawns are still dotted with Tudor, Italianate and French chateau mansions of that era. Chicago investor Richard Driehaus' annual summer soirees require so much temporary staff (one year it featured a circus theme replete with a baby elephant) that the money manager becomes the largest employer in town. The Grand Geneva Resort a few miles off the lake is the former Playboy Club where Hugh Hefner once retreated. Today, many prefer Chuck's Lakeshore Inn, where you might bump into a CEO in boat shoes or an NBA star. Until recently, an Italian steakhouse in town bore the name of the Milwaukee Brewers' star Ryan Braun; he has a house nearby and managed last year to be the National League's Most Valuable Player and to overturn a suspension for alleged performance-enhancing drug use. Lake Geneva deal of the year: Michael Keefe, one of the area's top real-estate agents, sold his own home for $5.9 million in 2011.

19. PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

For people watchers, the place to be is the Tap Room at The Lodge at Pebble Beach during February's AT&T pro-am golf tournament (formerly known as the Bing Crosby Clam Bake). It's the 19th hole for former and current NFL quarterbacks, like Bob Griese, and film stars in between shoots, such as Owen Wilson, all just steps from the Pacific's edge and tucked inside a thicket of the Del Monte Forest. Pebble and neighboring Carmel-by-the-Sea were once so dry that ex-mayor Clint Eastwood opened his own watering hole, the Hog's Breath Inn. Clint is no longer the proprietor, but locals still tip a few amid its open hearths and cobblestone courtyard. Prices in town have risen slightly, but the high end has been quiet. The exception: A manse with views near the Cypress Point Golf Club sold for around $10 million.

20. SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

Scottsdale is an established Phoenix suburb, of course, but with its myriad gated communities, it remains a favorite second-home destination for snowbirds from the Midwest and Canada, particular those that like to spend the darkest months swinging irons and woods. More than 200 golf courses make this Arizona bolthole a golf mecca, like Pebble Beach and Kiawah. The weather is mostly sublime, and only high summer is unbearable. In March, Scottsdale os also home to major-league baseball's spring training. Reservations during spring training must be made a month in advance. Fans and fastball hitters head to sporty Don and Charlie's in Old Town Scottsdale for ribs and frosted brews. Meanwhile, the nip-and-tuck set are often found at Mastro's City Hall Steakhouse, where the martinis are as big as the cosmetic enhancements of some of its customers. There was much excitement when the 4,000- square-foot condo of former Phoenix Coyotes hockey player, Oleg Saprykin, sold for $2.1 million in an all-cash deal.